(Ecofin Agency) - In Burkina Faso, there is almost no media company that could survive after having paid a fine of FCfa 10 to 15 million for a press offence. It will be a prescription for death. The alarm has been raised by several professional media organisations among them the Burkina Faso Association of Journalists (AJB). They have published a joint communiqué to react to the government proposal abolishing imprisonment of journalists for press offences but which greatly increases the corresponding fines.

Following consultations, the government decided on the amounts of FCfa 10 to 15 million for defamation, in spite of the refusal expressed by the professional organisations.

“This heavy fine appears from all points of view, as unbearable as it is untenable for the economically weaker press companies”, they write.

The press pleads to retain the fines imposed in the Information Code adopted in 1993. The highest amount mentioned in this text is FCfa 2 million. On this point at least, the old code is still in line with the economic reality of media companies in Burkina Faso, the press organisations explain.
 
Moreover, it is against the difficult economic circumstances of the media that the government took measures to support them. This refers notably to tax exemption for equipment in 2015, the creation of a public fund for the press, tax breaks for press companies as well as a public subsidy.